Koh Samui Residents Urge Govt To Speed Up Construction Of Bridge

[webfact]

 

TNR Staff 

 

AS a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has now been signed to construct a bridge linking Koh Samui to Nakhon Si Thammarat’s Khanom district, local residents are urging that this be quickly built to boost tourism, Naewna newspaper said yesterday (August 24).

 

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob earlier signed the MoU on integration of the road network between the Highways and Rural Roads departments and the Expressway Authority of Thailand with the latter to be the project operator. 

 

All Koh Samui residents are closely monitoring the Koh Samui-Khanom bridge project because ferry fares are high with the operators adjusting them as required. 

 

Full story: https://thainewsroom.com/2022/08/24/koh-samui-residents-urge-govt-to-speed-up-construction-of-bridge/

 

-- © Copyright  THAI NEWSROOM 2022-08-25

 

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[Rampant Rabbit]

Wonder  what BAngkok Airways think of  that....or  are they construction company too!!

[mackayae]

While there at it they can finish off the Kra Isthmus Canal.

[Geoffggi]

2 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Wonder  what BAngkok Airways think of  that....or  are they construction company too!!

I would also bet that the Taxi mafia on Koh Samui are none too pleased either, I do hope they have also thought about the problems the additional traffic will bring .........LOL

[realfunster]

2 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Wonder  what BAngkok Airways think of  that....or  are they construction company too!!

Yes indeed.

A holistic transport review, including air connections, would be helpful.

 

Checking Google maps, a bridge to the mainland would be at least 10 km long, I assume that is going to be a long & expensive project.

With the associated opportunities for, ahem, facilitation and consultancy fees, a great opportunity for the national government to find the budget and buy some political allies down south…

[realfunster]

4 minutes ago, Geoffggi said:

I do hope they have also thought about the problems the additional traffic will bring .........LOL

Good point, hadn’t initially crossed my mind. That could really have a negative impact on the island. 

[2long]

We all know that there's nothing SAFER than a rushed building project in Thailand, and a long sea bridge built in haste will pose no safety issues whatsoever. 

[Tropicalevo]

42 minutes ago, Geoffggi said:

I would also bet that the Taxi mafia on Koh Samui are none too pleased either, I do hope they have also thought about the problems the additional traffic will bring .........LOL

 

37 minutes ago, realfunster said:

Good point, hadn’t initially crossed my mind. That could really have a negative impact on the island. 

All in hand.

Next project will be the monorail.

(It has as much chance of happening as the bridge!)

[metisdead]

An off topic post with an unattributed abstract has been removed. 

[edwinchester]

It took 2 years to build a new highway of about 2kms around our village so how how long the bridge and infrastructure to Koh Samui will take is anyone's guess.

Maybe we can organise a sweepstake for Asean Now members but I'd wager the winner will be dead by the time he can collect.

[ronster]

Seems the legalisation of weed has went to far !!

Living in la la land . They haven’t finished the main ring road upgrades that seem to have gone on forever ! ????????

A bridge too far me thinks .

[Tropposurfer]

If you think bridges can be beautiful then a really sick looking elegant thing could be built. A huge quantity of tourists fly into Samui from other than close provinces so I doubt very much if a bridge gunna' do much damage to BK Air's  passenger flow.

If they ever build it we might take a rode from the 'other' bridge connected island and ride across it.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Tropposurfer

[thaibeachlovers]

My initial reaction was that if there was a bridge it'd really finish the island as a desirable place to visit ( Phuket is a lesson not learned, that serves as an example of what it would likely become ), but then I remembered that I stopped going there 20 years ago because it was so ruined.

I doubt more tourists could make it any worse.

[Charlie Halliday]

Why bother. Samui was trashed years ago with over development and the presence of the Thai mafia.  Phuket and Samui are finished. Samui was paradise back in the late 80s and even the early years of the airport but from the late 90s onwards it changed for the worse.  Won't ever go back. There are much nicer places in Thailand.  

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, realfunster said:

Good point, hadn’t initially crossed my mind. That could really have a negative impact on the island. 

Never stopped to think about extra traffic, parking etc... just open it up.

My sister-in-law just moved to a new apartment complex... 

14 separate blocks with 45 rooms in each building.

9 car parks spaces allocated to each building.

Should hear the fun in the morning as everyone has a car and can't get out because of all the triple/quadruple parking.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, Charlie Halliday said:

Why bother. Samui was trashed years ago with over development and the presence of the Thai mafia.  Phuket and Samui are finished. Samui was paradise back in the late 80s and even the early years of the airport but from the late 90s onwards it changed for the worse.  Won't ever go back. There are much nicer places in Thailand.  

I'm in full agreement with you. Started going there back when a songtheaw was 20 baht from ferry to Chaweng, and never bothered with Phangan, but by 2000 had no desire to ever return, and visited Phangan instead, which was more like Samui before it was ruined, though no beaches on it to equal Chaweng, which is the best beach I've ever been on. Shame they put the flight path right over it though.

[spidermike007]

6 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

I would also bet that the Taxi mafia on Koh Samui are none too pleased either, I do hope they have also thought about the problems the additional traffic will bring .........LOL

Traffic mitigation? On Samui? That will never happen. Planning is not their forte. 

[khunPer]

11 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

Wonder  what BAngkok Airways think of  that....or  are they construction company too!!

They don't mind, people that already pays the airfare will continue fly to Samui instead of a 12 hour train or bus trip from Bangkok, or a couple of hours extra in a bus or taxi from a budget fare airport, where a bridge might cut a total of one hour off from the total transportation time.

 

Can you for example imagine coming from abroad  with up to 35 kg of luggage, and dece to take land transport from Bangkok or Phuket to save a relative minor cost of the last leg of the airfare?

[khunPer]

Quote from the article: "Food vendors at Ban Nathon pier urged the government to quickly build it for the future of tourism on the island."

 

Food vendors at Nathon pier will probably see their business decrease if a bridge is build.

 

Nathon will become a less important town with some few fishing ships landing, and having some public offices for mainly Thais - the amphor-, tessa ban- and revenue-offices - and a government hospital.

[khunPer]

5 hours ago, Charlie Halliday said:

Why bother. Samui was trashed years ago with over development and the presence of the Thai mafia.  Phuket and Samui are finished. Samui was paradise back in the late 80s and even the early years of the airport but from the late 90s onwards it changed for the worse.  Won't ever go back. There are much nicer places in Thailand.  

For you! Others seem to be of another opinion, since the number of visitors has increased ever since the late 80s...

[khunPer]

8 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

Next project will be the monorail.

That was already suggested a decade ago, when the island still had printed newspapers - I remember one of the stations were called "Happy Bar Chaweng"...????

[n00dle]

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Never stopped to think about extra traffic, parking etc... just open it up.

My sister-in-law just moved to a new apartment complex... 

14 separate blocks with 45 rooms in each building.

9 car parks spaces allocated to each building.

Should hear the fun in the morning as everyone has a car and can't get out because of all the triple/quadruple parking.

apropos of absolutely nothing. 

Thanks for that

[hotchilli]

28 minutes ago, n00dle said:

apropos of absolutely nothing. 

Thanks for that

Welcome....

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, khunPer said:

Quote from the article: "Food vendors at Ban Nathon pier urged the government to quickly build it for the future of tourism on the island."

 

Food vendors at Nathon pier will probably see their business decrease if a bridge is build.

 

Nathon will become a less important town with some few fishing ships landing, and having some public offices for mainly Thais - the amphor-, tessa ban- and revenue-offices - and a government hospital.

LOL. Are you forgetting that ferries will still need to run to Phangan and Tao? I assume they will still use Nathon pier.

Anyway, the bridge will probably be opening about the same time as the Hopewell project is completed.

[khunPer]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL. Are you forgetting that ferries will still need to run to Phangan and Tao? I assume they will still use Nathon pier.

Anyway, the bridge will probably be opening about the same time as the Hopewell project is completed.

Phangan car-ferry traffic is small - 4 car-ferries a day, and that kind of passengers probably won't stop more than now by the pier to have somme food from market, if they stop there at all - most people heading for Phangan are foreign tourists using Lomprayah catamarans from Maenam and Bangrak, and Haad Rin Queen from Bangrak; Seatran Discovery has not yet restarted, but they also operates from Bangrak, i.e. Big Budhha Pier.

 

Tao-traffic from Samui is Lomprayah and Seatran Discovery.

 

If there comes a bridge it's likely that one of the car-ferry routes will cease operation - most likely Seatran, as it's private - the other route, Raja Ferry, operates from Lipa Noi Pier, south of Nathon...????